It has become commonplace in grocery stores and other retail establishments to provide plastic bags to facilitate the handling of purchased items. The plastic grocery bags have been an enormous convenience to consumers as the integral loop handle makes it easier to carry the bags. While the plastic grocery bag may be convenient for carrying items, once the bag is placed in a vehicle for transport home, the bag tends to collapse and the contents thereof susceptible to spilling. The problem of spilling has been addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,825 issued Sep. 24, 1991 to Bratset. The Bratset patent discloses a grocery bag support having a base and an upright member, detachably secured to the base, which is designed to receive and support the loop handles of plastic grocery bags to enable the bags to travel in an upright position. The grocery bag support disclosed in the Bratset patent is disadvantaged in that it requires two separate pieces (i.e., the base member and the upright member). The upright member must be inserted into brackets contained in the base member to configure the support for use. To disassemble and store the grocery bag support, the upright member must be detached from the base.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel, foldable apparatus for transporting filled plastic grocery bags which obviates the problems of the prior art and which may be easily folded into place for use and easily disassembled for storage.